1. I Am Juvenile. I “CANNOT” Be
Punished
By Tezaswita Choudhury
2. Just another random day
• It had been a busy, tiresome day in the college.
• A while after some rest, two of my friends and I decided to
eat out. As we walked past a Government Boys’ School, one
of my friends cried “Ouch!”.
• When asked, she said that she had been pelted on her back
with a stone.
• We looked back with a hope to find the culprit and lash him
with strict words of discipline; only to see many school boys
hanging around.
• It was difficult to point at someone randomly.
• Suddenly, two adolescent boys who overheard our
conversation came up to us and showed the real culprit.
3. • He was a little boy, hardly eleven years of age.
• With a hope to teach him a lesson and reform his ways we
approached him in a stern, but not angry manner.
• We enquired as to why he had done that and his reply was
not in the affirmative.
• He denied having done any misdeed.
• We warned him not to lie and that we could go to the police
to lodge a complaint against him for his mischief. .
• But up came the horrifying answer from a boy who was
almost ten yours younger to us. He said “I’m a juvenile and no
case can be registered against me. The police would never
punish me”
4. Justice vs Juvenile
• Just a month has passed after Nirbhaya’s gang rape.
• People are still protesting against the rapists nationwide and
newspapers are still writing articles to bring a reform in the
Indian Constitution about the Juvenile Law.
• And here in front of us a juvenile freely does whatever he
wants and says that he would not be punished for anything
he does, by the law. We, three women, stood horrified.
• The ‘Nirbhaya case’ not only made people terrified and
aware, but also made a section of adolescent people worse.
• This section realized that however gruesome and brutal act
they commit, they would not be punished by the law if they
are below eighteen years of age.
5. Making way for more crimes?
• The eleven year old boy’s statement proves that if he could
do this mischief today, he might rape or murder people after
a few years if his mindset grows in the manner it is growing
today.
• Surprisingly enough many young boys do not fear the police
and the law anymore.
• They have realized that the law is too shaky in this country,
the police lenient, greedy and to some extent anti-women
and Juvenile law is an icing to the cake.
• If such incidents and worse than this continue to happen with
women more and more ‘Nirbhayas’ will see their fates sealed,
denied justice, and more and more rapists will walk freely on
the streets of India.
6. • Read more on Youth Ki Awaaz at http://bit.ly/10SiLmK
7. • Read more on Youth Ki Awaaz at http://bit.ly/10SiLmK
